Alcohol and drugs have been consumed by humans since the beginning of civilization. Beer, for example, has a history of more than 14,000 years, and the use of marijuana and other hallucinogenic plants dates back to ancient times. However, the areas of use and the intensity of consumption vary depending on geographical and cultural conditions. There are countries where alcohol has a permanent presence, such as the Arabs, and countries where alcohol is part of the daily socialization of their inhabitants, such as Spain or France.

So which ones are more lethal? The answer may surprise you.

North. Scandinavian countries are located in Western Europe, one of the corners of the world with the highest development and living conditions. A 2016 study conducted by the Global Data Health Exchange (GDHx) and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) identified these as the places with the highest death rate due to alcohol or other drug consumption. In Finland, the rate exceeded 12.16 deaths per 100,000 people; 12:14 in Denmark; 9.31 in Norway; and 6.15 in Sweden. On the other hand, the same rate dropped to 1.42 in Italy, 2 in Spain and 2.32 in Portugal.

Two Europeans. There is a north-south divide and this situation is in favor of the Mediterranean countries. However, the most obvious difference is between Western Europe and Eastern Europe. In Russia, the rate exceeded 27.5 deaths per 100,000 people; in Estonia, 21:37; 20.8 in Ukraine; 18 in Belarus; and 9.09 in Poland. Alcohol or other drugs cause much higher death rates further north and east of the continent; and is much less elevated further south and west.

nuances. For example, in 2017, another joint study by GDHx and IHME distinguished between deaths due to alcohol consumption and drug use. In both cases, space is preserved. The mortality rate attributable to alcohol (direct deaths: due to other diseases, those specifically attributable to mental illnesses are not counted here) much higher than in Spain (0.61), Italy (0.39) or Portugal (1.64). The discordant note here is marked by France (3.7) and of course Eastern Europe.

The same goes for drugs. 4.72 in Finland, 4.55 in Norway and 3.77 in Denmark, compared with 0.8 in Italy and Portugal or 1.23 in Spain. Here the Scandinavian countries even surpass the alcohol-obsessed Eastern countries (except for Russia, where there is a real gap in deaths from substance consumption).

Percentages. Do they drink more in Northern Europe? No, herein lies the striking thing. In 2016, the World Bank compiled annual pure alcohol consumption by country. The figures for Spain (10 liters per year), France (12.6) or Portugal (12.3) equaled or exceeded those of Finland (10.7), Sweden (9.6) or Norway (7.5). Furthermore, the number of men who regularly consume alcohol is similar in all cases (68% for Spain, Sweden and Finland; 85% for Norway; 94% for France); and the number of drinks consumed per day is higher in Spain or France than in Sweden, Norway or Germany. The south and north drink more or less the same drink.

The question is how.

Busy. There is another pattern: the south drinks very often but more lightly, while the north, when it drinks, does so in large quantities. In Finland, 53% of adults report “heavy drinking” at least once a month. What does this mean? Situations where at least 60 grams of pure alcohol have been swallowed, approximately six doses. In Spain, this rate barely exceeds 19%, in Italy it remains at 6.2%, and in Sweden and Denmark it rises to over 32%. In the south, alcohol has a social role and therefore the percentage of alcoholics is much lower (0.89% of the population in Spain, 0% in Italy) than in the north (2.61% in Finland, 1.59% in Sweden). ,46). ).

The drug incident is even more striking. At least 1.47% of the Spanish population is addicted to some form of substance; In Sweden the rate is 0.73% or in Norway 0.83%, but the death rate attributable to drugs as a whole is much lower in Spain (1.23 per 100,000 people). north (3.67 in Sweden, 4.55 in Norway).

Culture? There is a cultural component to both countries’ models. But don’t be too enthusiastic: consuming alcohol is not a good idea. The more we know about this topic, the more dangerous it seems, and there is no such thing as the “healthy glass of wine a day” that we take for granted in the south. A different matter is that alcohol has served to strengthen social bonds within a community since time immemorial (almost 13 thousand years in the case of beer), and even today alcohol continues to serve as a “social lubricant” that strengthens ties with society. close circle.

But alcohol has a negative effect on your body in one way or another.

Picture | Zachariah Hagy

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*An earlier version of this article was published in October 2019.